RBSE Class 10 Science Lesson 14 Economic Importance Of Plants And Animals Notes

Lesson – 14 Economic importance of plants and animals 

There are some fundamental requirements for human life like food, cloth, shelter etc. 

Cereals, pulses, oil, sugar etc. for food, fibres for cloth and wood used for making shelter are obtained   from plants. 

All the living organisms of whole biosphere directly or indirectly depend on plants, therefore plants are very important for human kind. 

Economic botany: - 

Study of economically important plants and their products is called economic botany.

Economically important plants are divided into following categories

A. Food Plants: - 

Cereals, pulses, oil, spices, beverages, vegetables, fruits etc. 

B. Medicinal Plants: - 

Ashwagandha, opium, sarpgandh, guggal, safed musli etc. 

C. Timber and fibres related plants: - 

Teak, shisham, rohida, khejri, cotton, jute etc. 

Plant of food importance: - 

Energy is required for various vital activities of organisms. This energy is obtained from food. 

Some important food plants are as follows-

Cereals: - 

1. This is the most important group of food plants. 
2. They are members of grass family (Graminae or Poaceae). 
3. They are the main source of starch which is used as a respiratory substrate in human body. 

Some of the important cereals are as follows

1.Wheat: - 

1. Scientific name - Triticum aestivum. 
2. It is sown as Rabi crop. 
3. Some of the improved varietes of wheat are- Sonalika, Kalyan Sona, Sharbati, Sonara etc. 

2. Rice: - 

1. Scientific name - Oryza sativa.
2. It is sown as a Kharif crop. 
3. India is at the top in the world in rice production. 
4. Some improved varietes are- Basmati, Swarndana, Java, Ratna, Sona etc. 

3. Maize: - 

1. Scientific name - Zea mays. 
2. It is also sown as a Kharif crop. 
3. Some improved varietes are- Vijay, Shakti, Ratan etc. 

4. Pearl millet: - 

1. Scientific name - Pennisetum typhoides.
2. It is also shown as a Kharif crop. 
3. It is an important millet.

Pulses: - 

1. They are good source of protein.
2. They are the member of family leguminosae 
3. Some important pulses are as follows. 

1. Gram: - 

1. Scientific name - Cicer arietinum. 
2. It is a crop of Rabi.
3. India is at the top in the world in production of gram. 
4. It is known as king of pulses.

2. Red gram: - 

1. Scientific name - Cajanus cajan. 

3. Pea: - 

1. Scientific name - Pisum sativum. 

4. Ground nut: - 

1. Scientific name - Arachis hypogea. 
2. India is the largest producer of ground nut in world 

5. Soya bean: - 

1. Scientific name - Glycine max. 
2. it contains the highest protein.

Oil yielding plants: - 

The are complex organic compound which are made up by alcohol, aldehyde, ester etc. 

1. Edible oil: - 

Oil of ground nut, oil of sesamum, oil of coconut, oil of soya bean, oil of alsi, oil of sun flower etc. 

2. Non-edible oil: - 

Oil of castor, oil of terpentine etc. 

3. Perfumed oil: - 

Kapoor, sandal, clove, khas oil etc. 

Important spices: - 

Black pepper, cumin, red chili, fennel, coriander, clove, ajwain, turmeric, asafoetida, ginger, dalchini (cinamon) cardamom etc. 

Beverages: - 

Tea and coffee are the most commonly used beverages. 

1. Tea: - 

Scientific name - Camellia sinensis. 

It is obtained from young leaves of plants.

2. Coffee: - 

Scientific name - Coffea arabica.

It is obtained from roasted seeds of plant.

Vegetable: - 

vegetable are also an important part of human balanced diet, like cereals and pulses. 

They are the chief source of vitamins, minerals. 

They may be obtained from various parts of plants like root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, seed etc. 

Some important vegetables and their botanical names are as follows: -

Vegetable obtained from roots: -

1. Carrot: - Daucus carota 

2. Radish: - Raphanus sativus 

3. Turnip: - Brassica rapa 

4. Sweet potato: - Impomoea batatas 

Vegetable obtained from stem: -

1. Potato- Solanum tuberosum 

2. Arbi- Colocasia esculenta 

Vegetable obtained from leaf: -

1. Spinach- Spinacia oleracea 

2. Fenu greek- Trigonellafoenum-graecum 

3. Bathua- Chenopodiumalbum 

Vegetable obtained from inflorescence: -

1. Cauliflower- Brassica oleracea var botrytis 

Vegetable obtained from fruits: -

1. Tomato- Lycopersicon esculentum 

2. Lady's finger (Bhindi)- Abelmoschus esculentus 

3. Brinjal - Solanum melongena 

4. Cluster bean (Guar) – Cyamopsis tetragonoloba

Fruits: - 

Structure formed from fertilization of ovary of a flower is called fruit. 

Some important fruits are as follows

1. Mango- Mangifera indica 

2. Banana- Musapara disiaca 

3. Orange- Citrus reticulata 

4. Guava- Psidium guajava 

5. Papaya- Carica papaya 

6. Custard apple- Annona squamosa 

Medicinal plants: - 

Chemical substances Of medicinal value are found in various parts of plants like root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, seed etc. 

Some medicinal plants Of them are as follows -

Medicine obtained from stem: -

1. Turmeric- Curcuma longa 

2. Ginger – Zingiber officinale 

3. Garlic- Allium sativum

4. Guggal- Commiphora wightii etc.

Medicine obtained from root: -

1. Serpent root (Sarpgandha)- Rauwolfia serpentina 

2. Chlorophytum (Safed musli) : - Chlorophytum tuberosum 

3. Ashwagandha- Withania somnifera

Medicine obtained from bark: -

1. Quinine- Cinchona officinalis 

2. Arjun- Terminalia arjuna 

4. Obtained from leaf: -

1. Aloe (Gwarpatha)- Aloe vera 

2. Osmium (Tulsi)- Osmium sanctum 

3. Brahmi- Centella asiatica 

5. Obtained from fruit: -

1. Opium- Papaver somniferum 

2. Embalica - Embalica officinalis

Plants of constructional importance: - 

Various parts of plants are used to obtain furniture, windows, doors, clothing's, striges, broom, mattresses etc. Fibres and wood related some plats are as follows-

1. Fibre yielding plants: - 

Various parts of plats like stem, leaf, seed etc. have thick walled tissues, from which clothing, packing bags, ropes are made, called as fibres. 

Some fibres yielding plants are as follows :-

(i) Jute - Corchorus capsularis 

(ii) Sun hemp- Crotalaria juncea 

(iii) Cotton- Gossypium spp. 

(iv) Coconut- Cocos nucifera 

2. Timber: - 

Out of three fundamental needs of human beings like food, cloth and shelter, timber plays very important role to fulfil the need of shelter Secondary xylem of perennial dicotyledons and gymnosperm plant is known as wood.

Some important timber yielding trees are as follows:- 

(i) teak — tectona Grandis 

(ii) Saal - Shorea Robusta 

(iii) Shisham- Dahlbergian sissoo 

(iv) Rohida or Marwar teak- Tecomella Undulata 

(v) Khejri (State tree Of Rajasthan)- Prosopis cineraria 

(vi) Deodar - Cedrus deodar

Economic importance of animals: -

Man has domesticated the animal and used their useful products. 

The rearing of new species of these animals has become much simpler and more beneficial due to the development of new technology. 

The brief description and rearing of different animals like honey bee, silkworm, Lac culture, pearl culture, coral and coral reef , fish, cattle etc. are as follows-

Apiculture: - 

1. Honey bees are the most important insects for pollination in plants. 
2. Apiculture has dual advantage for human.
3. The yield of crop is increased because of the easy process of pollination due to apiculture. 
4. The honey bees have been used for obtaining honey for thousands of years.
5. Honey is high energy food material therefore, it has also been used as medicine. 
6. Pure honey does not destroy for a long time, therefore, it is used as a preservative.
7. Honey and honey bee was obtained from honey combs or hives found in nature from ancient time. 
8. Nowadays large amount of honey is obtained from artificial honey hives of apiculture. 

Fishery: - 

1. Fish is an easily available proteinaceous, highly nutritious and easily digestive food resource, therefore, fishery has been done by human for breeding and production of fishes. 
2. Now-a- days the position of India in world is sixth in case of sea food production. In west Bengal, Bihar and Orissa about 1500 years old fish industry is present. 
3. Fishery is more flourished in freshwater as compared to saline water. 
4. For fishery in fresh water, native fishes like Rohu (Labeo rohita): Catla (Catla catla) mrigal (Circinus mrigala) etc. are being produced.  
5. In fishing industries exotic fishes like common carp (Cyprinus carpi) are cultured. 
6. The land with clay soil is considered good for construction of a pond. The temperature, light, Oxygen, water flow of this pond are regulated for the maximum production of fishes.
7. The natural food given to fishes are like-microscopic aquatic plants, animals and artificial food like husk of rice, bran of wheat. pieces of grain etc. 

Wool industry: - 

1. A large number of sheep's are domesticated in north India to obtain wool. 
2. Wool is prepared from hair of sheep. 
3. The colour of wool depends on the species of sheep and the climate of that region. 
4. Some indigenous breeds of sheep like-Lohi, Nali, Marwari, Patanwadi etc. are domesticated. 
5. Rajasthan is an important state of country in wool production point of view. 

Dairy industry: - 

1. Humans are using domestic animals to obtain milk since ancient times, Now-a-days milk production become a major and beneficial business of dairy industry. 
2. Buffaloes are more important for milk production point of view. Some good breeds of buffalo are as follows. Jaffarabadi, Murrah, Surti, Bhadawari, Mehsana etc. 
3. Similarly some good breed of cow are as follows- Gir, Sahiwal, Sidhi, Devki, Haryana etc. 
4. In some states goats are also domesticated for milk production. the good breeds of goat Sirohi, Bar-bari, Kashmir pashmina, Jamuna-pari etc. are the good breeds of goat.  

Pearl culture: - 

1. Animals of phylum Mollusca are economically very important for humans. 
2. They are useful for business point of view because Button, Pearl and Cowrie are obtained from these animals. 
3.  Pearls are considered to be valuable as gems and beads since ancient times. 
4. The thousands of tons of Mollusca are use every year for this purpose. 
5. Very beautiful, attractive and valuable pearls are obtained from Pearl oyster. 
6. The process to obtain pearl from rearing of sepia by artificial technology method is called Pearl Culture. 
7. Pearl is considered as a valuable gem which is usually white, shiny, rounded structure which secreted by Mollusca like oyster under the shell of itself for their protection.  
8. This technology was first developed in Japan. 
9. Lingha pearl are considered as best which are obtained from sea oyster. 
10. Pearl are also from sepia of fresh water are less valuable. 

Coral and coral reefs: - 

1. Single or colonial polyp animals of Mollusca phylum secrete CaC03
2. skeleton, know as Coral. 
3. Most of the corals secreted by members of class Anthozoa of phylum Coelenterate. 
4. The calcareous rocks or mounds of shell like structures formed from continuous budding in polyps of coral colonies are called as coral reefs.  

Poultry: - 

1. The tradition of poultry for eating eggs and meat (Chicken) is since ancient times. 
2. This industry fulfils a major part of protein requirement as a food substance. 
3. India ranks 5th position in the world in egg production point of view. 
4. For good growth and to maintain good health, it is essential to provide protected habitat and 
5. nutritious food to fowls. 
6. The poultry feed includes maize, barley, pearl millet, wheat, jowar etc. 

Animal husbandry: - 

1. The branch of agriculture which deals with the study of food of domesticated cattle, habitat, health breeding etc. is know as animal husbandry.
2. Animal husbandry has special importance in Indian economy, in which maximum contribution is of milk production. 
    
3. India has the 55% buffalo and 15% cows of world's total number. 
4. 53 % milk production of country is obtained from buffalo and 43 percent from cows. 
5. India ranks first in milk production in the world. 
6. Population of goats is second in the world, third in population of sheep's and seventh in population of fowls.  
7. These small cattle play an important role in the economic development of poor people. 

Other uses of animals: - 

In addition Of honey, wax, silk, lac etc. other uses of animals are as follows-

(i) Colour: - 

Tannin and cochinol colors are obtained from dry body of some scaly insects which are present on cactus. These are used in cosmetics. 

(ii) Scavenger: - 

Some insects decompose body of dead plants and animals to prevent stink and decay or acts as a scavenger like- Termite, cockroach etc.

(iii) Medicinal use: - 

Cantharidin medicine is obtained from some insects like blister beetles. It is used to prevent hair fall. 

Honey obtained from honey bees is used to cure ulcer.

Carminic acid obtained from cochineal insects is used to cure whooping cough and nerve 

pain of face and head. 

(iv) As a food: - 

Carnivorous humans used frogs, lizards, snakes, fishes etc. as a food. 

(v) Pollination in plants: - 

Pollination process is very essential for fertilization in flowering plants many insect like butterfly, ant, honeybee, fly help in pollination from one flower to another flower. 

Sericulture: - 

1. We are rearing sericulture from thousands of years to obtain silk. 
2. The weaving of cloth from silk was first started in china. Now,. It has become small scale industry in many countries of the world. 

Introduction of silk worm: -

1. Those insects which produce thread like silk are called silk worm. 
2. Out of them, Bombyx mori which feed on mulberry leaves, is the main species.  
3. Now-a-days India is third in position after China and Japan in the field of silk production. 
4. Bombyx mori belongs to Lepidoptera order and good quality of silk is produced by this silk worm. 
5. In India 2 to 7 generations of the insect can be developed in one year. 
6. After the incubation period, the larva hatches out of the egg known as caterpillar. Larva has one pair of salivary glands, known as silk glands. Fully developed silk gland becomes five times longer than larva. 
7. Silk is secreted in the form of liquid which hardens on exposure to the air. 
8. The full grown larva or caterpillar is 7.5 cm in length. It stops feeding and after that starts cocoon formation. 
9. It secretes thread of silk around the body and closed frilly inside threads. The inactive larva closed inside cocoon is called Pupa. 
10. Cocoon is made up of approximately 1000-1200 meter long thread of silk. 
11. The weight of one cocoon is about 1.8 to 2.2 gm. 
12. Silk is made up of protein. Its inner part is made up of fibrin and outer part is made up of serine protein for sericulture. It is necessary to have mulberry gardens. 

Lac culture: - 

1. The scarlet resin substance secreted by glands of lac insects is called lac. 
2. The rearing of Iac insects for commercial production of lac is called Iac culture. 
3. India produced 80% part of lac of total production of lac in the world. 
4. Scientific name of Iac insect is Lccijer lacca. 
5. It is minute crawling scale-insect which is enclosed by covering of lac secreted by itself. This covering protects Iac insect. 
6. Male lac insects are smaller in size then female and pink in colour. They produce lac in nymph stage only. 
7. Female lac insect is large in size and produce more lac. They start to suck the juices when stick with soft twinges and starts the formation of Iac around the body. 
8. There are four crops of the every year in country. 
9. 50% part of lac production in India is obtained Rangini crop.

 Two methods for lac productions are as follows: -

(i) Old common method: - 

1. This method used by tribal is ancient and non-scientific. 
2. In this method lac is collected by harvesting the plants of lac insects. 
3. There is a great loss of next crop in this method due to the loss or damaging of insects. 

(ii) Modern method: - 

1. This is a scientific method in which next crop is not more harmed because lac is obtained in intervals not continuously. 
2. Research about Iac is done at Indian research institute, Ranchi, Bihar.